[Vnbiz] Fatherland Front helps fight inflation
Craig Stevenson
cstevenson2000 at gmail.com
Tue Apr 8 04:49:49 PDT 2008
Phong:
Is it Anh Phong, excuse me for not knowing, but names still confuse me.
Uhhhhmmmm....I guess that might have been the direction, but wasn't
necessarily my intention. But I thought there were laws. I believe even Ho
Chi Minh promulgated a law or decree in 1957 which was sweeping. I thought
the problem was in implementation. But frankly this is outside of my field
of interest which tends toward creating a model of economic interactions
which doesn't end in global instability and a pervasive systemic meltdown
which will lead toward violence and instability of ever-increasing
magnitudes. The worldwide system is leading toward greater income
inequality within nations and greater equality between nations mostly
because a few within nations benefit disproportionately from the present
system. This leads to instability in all nations.
As, to laws on association, if that is what needs to be done to create a
platform that increases stability, by enabling the people to at least feel
that they have some say, some part in mitigating the problems they are
confronted with, will be confronted with then I can only believe, that in
the long run, this increases stability. Better for the few to lose some
things, then everyone to lose all things. Dangers of instability increase
worldwide. This is not pessimism, only a dispassionate reviewing of the
facts. One can not fear, one can only review, evaluate, analyze, and
choose. No one choice will be correct for everything, but lacking to choose
will be disastrous for all things.
Craig
On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 8:25 PM, <Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov> wrote:
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
>
> Anh Craig:
> You made a compelling argument for the passage/enactment of the Law on
> Associations. Vietnam still doesn't have one. Groups operating outside of
> the FF technically have no legal status. Their activities are technically
> illegal. This is not the best environment for groups of citizens to take
> civil society initiatives. Creating the legal framework is a good place to
> start.
> Cheers, HPP
>
>
>
> *"Craig Stevenson" <cstevenson2000 at gmail.com>*
> Sent by: vnbiz-bounces at mail.saigon.com
>
> 04/05/2008 02:33 PM Please respond to
> vnbiz at vietlinks.net
>
> To
> vnbiz at vietlinks.net cc
> Subject
> Re: [Vnbiz] Fatherland Front helps fight inflation
>
>
>
>
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
> Hi All:
>
> Hoanh, I believe your calls for strengthening Civil Society to be entirely
> correct. A healthy and functioning Civil Society enables the people to
> withstand the worst that our/their environments bring to us/them. China is
> able to mitigate much of the worst of its growing pains from the fairly
> rapid development of Civil Society that has progressed over the last decade
> or so. The Chinese people, today, are more able to solve more of the local
> problems that can bog down government officials who often have too busy to
> solve all of the problems, all of the time.
>
> Civil Society is a support to government in that it enables the energy of
> local people to tackle local problems and as they act as the eyes and ears
> of the people at the ground level. To enable, even encourage, people to
> support people, which can be wildly within our selfish self-interest, is an
> appropriate policy response for governments who are seeking to take
> advantage of all that globalization has to offer. People are more nimble,
> for simple need of food on the dinner table, to alter direction, and respond
> to rapid local developments, than large unwieldy institutions such as
> bureaucracies. Where government is skilled at seeing the big picture, at
> designing the grand strategies, and identifying important initiatives the
> people who do the heavy lifting are very much more aware of the problems
> they faced yesterday, the problems they face today, and the trends of
> problems they will face tomorrow (otherwise people would have become extinct
> a very long time ago). To facilitate the change that Vietnam envisages
> requires the formalization of roles, responsibilities, and frameworks within
> which the people can more fully contribute to the devleopment of the nation.
> In some large measure it can be seen as strengthening, and diversifying,
> the service sector of the economy. Civil Society is a rather large, and to
> some perhaps even divisive concept, but formalizing the ways by which
> Agricultural Scientists, for example, can contribute to the development of
> the Agricultural sector of the economy is plain for all to see (especially
> now with food prices, how long will we wait, what would have been the
> situation had we acted earlier).
>
> Enabling one farming community to share its best practices easily with
> others is plain to see and requires definition and formalization of roles
> and responsibilities for this to happen. Concerned citizens, perhaps the
> brother of one who has died from some horrible disease, need to have the
> ability to exercise their passion and desire to tackle the disease which
> took his brother, and this requires the formalization of roles and
> responsibilities under law.
>
> Until nations understand the importance of liberating the passion and
> energy of their people to solve the problems that face nations they limit
> the speed at which problems can be corrected.
>
> Craig
> On Sat, Apr 5, 2008 at 1:21 PM, Shane Wall <*
> shane.wall at translingualexpress.com* <shane.wall at translingualexpress.com>>
> wrote:
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
> Dear anh Hoanh,
>
> I totally agree with you: "We need to find way to encourage the growth
> of civil society, ...". Where I might differ is perhaps in the
> implementation.
>
> To me, I would suggest a "young-up" approach! We borrow the Earth from
> our children, so why should we not ask them what kind of Earth they
> would like us to hand over to them? As a person in 'power' of any
> government, I would ask young people what THEY want from our world! It
> could serve the future of any country well to listen to those we
> "borrow" it from: our young people!
>
> I am not sure that I understand what you mean about switching to
> "survival mode of thinking--do or die, unite to win)" in a war-time
> situation. That might be so at the political level, but as you may
> remember, when you are looking at the 'wrong' end of a gun, the
> "survival mode" is totally selfish. And personal!
>
> Could it be that, in your words, "Every government (Chinese, French, and
> then our own Vietnamese governments) are so afraid that citizens may go
> off on themselves and do things the governments do not want ..." because
> that would mean the Government is doing things which the people do not
> agree with? You and I both know where /that/ might lead!
>
> It is a very interesting topic. From what I know, exhortations like this
> one from the FF mean nothing to the general population.
>
> Shane
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Mr. Shane Wall
> Managing Director
>
> Trans Lingual Express
> 188/16 Nguyen Thuong Hien St,
> P.1, Q. Go Vap, HCMC,
> Vietnam
>
> Mail: *shane.wall at translingualexpress.com*<shane.wall at translingualexpress.com>
> Web: *www.translingualexpress.com* <http://www.translingualexpress.com/>
>
> Ph: +84 (8) 588 1701
>
> Mbl: +84 (090) 9484 753 (English)
> Mbl: +84 (090) 7885 375 (Vietnamese)
>
>
>
> Tran Dinh Hoanh wrote:
> > [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Dear anh Shane,
> >
> > While family responsibility is strong, social responsibility is not a
> > very strong Vietnamese trait (except when the country is at war. Then
> > we switch to the survival mode of thinking--do or die, unite to win).
> > The weakness in our social responsibility is something that any
> > leader, any government will have to work on seriously (if she/it wants
> > to be a good leader). I imagine throughout our history ALL government
> > have worked against building up this social responsibility. Citizen's
> > social responsibility means that the citizens by themselves feel
> > responsible for the society's good so they automatically do something
> > by themselves to help the society.
> >
> > But do governments throughout our history want citizens to do that?
> > Of course, not. Every government (Chinese, French, and then our own
> > Vietnamese governments) are so afraid that citizens may go off on
> > themselves and do things the governments do not want (like an
> > organized complaint about government's conduct), so as soon as a group
> > of citizens gather to do something, the government either prohibits
> > it, discourage it, or find a way to run it. Do you ever see a group
> > of children trying to build a sandcastle or a wooden chair
> > themselves? Have you every jumped in and try to take over the project
> > and "teach" the children how to build? Try that and you will see how
> > many children are still around after 10 minutes.
> >
> > The best way to ruin people's inspiration and motivation is trying to
> > control and "manage" their work. I can understand that the Chinese
> > and the French wanted to do that when they are our rulers. But when a
> > Vietnamese government does that it annoys me greatly. It means that
> > we act like abused children. Abused children grow up to be abusive
> > parents. We are abused by foreign bosses and grow us to be abusive
> > bosses ourselves.
> >
> > We need to find way to encourage the growth of civil society, to
> > encourage our citizens to come up on the streets and start doing
> > productive things for society themselves, and not hinder them with all
> > kinds of rules and regulations and restrictions. And this issue of
> > social responsibility and civil society has been the central point of
> > our call in this forum for years and years. I said "central point"
> > because citizen engagement is the central strategy to get the entire
> > nation going strongly.
> >
> > Going back to this case, the government is trying to get the citizens
> > to engage, that is a very good point. As we see all the negative
> > points, we must also recognize every positive move as it happens. It
> > is much better to have a call for unity to solve a problem than not
> > saying anything at all.
> >
> > Have a great day, anh Shane and all.
> >
> > Hoanh
> >
> > ___________________--
> >
> > 2008/4/5 Shane Wall <*shane.wall at translingualexpress.com*<shane.wall at translingualexpress.com>
> > <mailto:*shane.wall at translingualexpress.com*<shane.wall at translingualexpress.com>
> >>:
> >
> > [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
> >
> > Dear anh Hoanh,
> > You ask: "How could we not be strong if our nation works like
> that?"
> > The simple fact is that Vietnam definitely DOES NOT work like this
> "on
> > the ground".
> >
> > A small but significant amount of profiteering is happening
> already.
> > From what I see, it is growing both in its spread across different
> > areas of the economy and in the "markups" that are being added. On
> the
> > wind I can sniff the re-emergence of the "every person for
> themselves"
> > attitude which we all know has plagued our country at different
> > times in
> > the past.
> >
> > This profiteering does not surprise me, nor even make me angry.
> Like
> > countries, most people the world over will normally act in their own
> > self-interest. That is a natural human instinct ... you stay alive
> > longer if you protect yourself than if you protect others and leave
> > yourself vulnerable. The human species is innately selfish when it
> > comes
> > to self-preservation.
> >
> > Perhaps the most interesting thing about this is the management
> > style: release an exhortation to the public for them to do this,
> > that or
> > the other, and then sit back in self-satisfaction that we have
> > done our
> > job ... when the people overwhelmingly ignore these things anyway! I
> > shudder to think of how many millions of dollars are wasted on the
> > slogan-banners we see draped across our streets right throughout the
> > country exhorting us to "Warmly welcome the ... whatever", just so
> we
> > can forget about them because they usually have no direct relevance
> to
> > our lives.
> >
> > Honestly, I sometimes wonder if the machinery of governance (at
> all
> > levels) and I are living in the same country! They seem to live in
> > "Governmentland" while the rest of us live in Viet Nam!
> >
> > Shane
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Mr. Shane Wall
> > Managing Director
> >
> > Trans Lingual Express
> > 188/16 Nguyen Thuong Hien St,
> > P.1, Q. Go Vap, HCMC,
> > Vietnam
> >
> > Mail: *shane.wall at translingualexpress.com*<shane.wall at translingualexpress.com>
> > <mailto:*shane.wall at translingualexpress.com*<shane.wall at translingualexpress.com>
> >
> > Web: *www.translingualexpress.com*<http://www.translingualexpress.com/><
> *http://www.translingualexpress.com* <http://www.translingualexpress.com/>
> >
> >
> > Ph: +84 (8) 588 1701
> >
> > Mbl: +84 (090) 9484 753 (English)
> > Mbl: +84 (090) 7885 375 (Vietnamese)
> >
> >
> >
> > Tran Dinh Hoanh wrote:
> > > [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Dear CACC,
> > >
> > > The article below is about the Fatherland Front's call for all
> > > citizens to "unite to conquer difficulties and reduce spending to
> > > fight inflation." This is obviously in support of the Prime
> > > Minister's previous call for all citizens to reduce spending.
> > >
> > > I find this fascinating. This style of management truly brings
> out
> > > the strength of the nation--everyone in the country works
> > together to
> > > conquer a problem. For years discussing economic issues, I
> > rarely see
> > > a government anywhere in the world asking its citizens to work on
> an
> > > inflation problem. Mostly it is done as the exclusive work of the
> > > government, economists and the banks, like increasing/decreasing
> > > interest rates or reducing/increasing government spending or
> > > increasing of decreasing taxes. Citizens are not the problem
> > solvers,
> > > they are expected to react to the government actions only. That
> is
> > > typical cold economic thinking--human is an economic creature,
> > he will
> > > react in a certain way to an economic inducement. Induce him to
> act
> > > the way you want and you will have your wanted result.
> > >
> > > Here in Vietnam, the citizens are asked to be the central player
> in
> > > solving the problem. He is not simply induced by economic
> measures,
> > > but he is expected to actively change the economic situation
> > himself.
> > >
> > > How could we not be strong if our nation works like that?
> > >
> > > Have a great day!
> > >
> > > Hoanh
> > > ____________
> > >
> > >
> > > Thứ sáu, 4/4/2008, 08:09 GMT+7
> > >
> > >
> > > Mặt trận kêu gọi toàn dân tiết kiệm, chống lạm phát
> > >
> > > Ngày 3/4, Đoàn chủ tịch Ủy ban Trung ương Mặt trận tổ quốc VN ra
> lời
> > > kêu gọi đồng bào cả nước chung tay khắc phục khó khăn, thực hành
> > tiết
> > > kiệm để kiềm chế lạm phát.
> > > > Thủ tướng kêu gọi toàn dân tiết giảm chi tiêu
> > > <*http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/Xa-hoi/2008/03/3BA00C71/*<http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/Xa-hoi/2008/03/3BA00C71/>
> >
> > >
> > > Trong thông điệp gửi đồng bào, Đoàn chủ tịch nhấn mạnh do tác
> > động của
> > > kinh tế thế giới và những yếu kém trong quản lý, điều hành kinh
> > tế vĩ
> > > mô cùng với các nguyên nhân nội sinh đã làm cho nền kinh tế VN có
> > > những diễn biến bất lợi, lạm phát tăng cao. Tình hình đó đã ảnh
> > hưởng
> > > tiêu cực đến phát triển sản xuất và đời sống của các tầng lớp nhân
> > > dân, nhất là người nghèo và người làm công ăn lương.
> > >
> > > Cũng hôm qua, tại hội nghị Đoàn chủ tịch Ủy ban Trung ương Mặt
> > trận tổ
> > > quốc VN lần thứ 11, Thủ tướng Nguyễn Tấn Dũng đã thông báo tình
> hình
> > > kinh tế - xã hội 3 tháng đầu năm và những giải pháp ưu tiên để
> chống
> > > lạm phát. Thủ tướng đề nghị Mặt trận cùng với Chính phủ giám
> > sát, kiểm
> > > tra việc thực hiện chính sách và chi tiêu ngân sách, đầu tư xây
> dựng
> > > cơ bản trong từng ngành, từng địa phương.
> > >
> > > Để kiềm chế lạm phát, Đoàn chủ tịch đã hiến kế cho Chính phủ một
> số
> > > giải pháp, như đảm bảo tính nhất quán trong chỉ đạo từ các giải
> pháp
> > > tình thế đến các giải pháp cơ bản, đặc biệt cần siết chặt kỷ
> > luật hành
> > > chính từ trên xuống dưới. Bởi đây là cơ hội tốt để thực hiện cải
> > cách
> > > hành chính, tinh giảm gọn nhẹ bộ máy hành chính.
> > >
> > > (Theo /TTXVN/)
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
> > > Washington DC
> > >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
> > Washington DC
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
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